Why you should listen to Magneplanar speakers (1 Viewer)

[John Kotches]

Mike,

They (planars) do the job quite well, some of the best imaging speakers I've heard were planars.

Regards,

 

[Lewis Besze]

I have auditioned a pair of 1.6 recently,and I was very impressed with in on 2ch music[something I'm hardly since I consider 2ch stereo a "compromise"].
It sounded great on HT material as well ,but we only listened at moderate levels.
I'm also concerned as how these speakers handle large dynamics at close to "reference" level.
Luis, and others?

 

[Shane Martin]

I would assume that you would need some gargantuan power to get Maggies up to full reference. They are quite the load on a power amp.

My only experience with Maggies are Tympanies(sp?) which have zero low end to them at all. They image like no other however.

The only problem I have with them is the room required to make them sing probably combined with the serious amt of juice required to power these behemoths.

 

[John Royster]

As John Kotches pointed out planars are different with respect to volume. Their sensitivity screams "I need monster power" yet a good 100 watts will drive them to insane levels.

But if super loud, ear deafening is what you want...maggies might be a good choice. If tone and micro dynamics (also known as music) are important, then they are.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I guess that 80-160hz region just isn't very important to Magnepan owners. They are afterall blessed with the golden ears that the rest of us are so pathetically lacking.

Ned,
This is an uncalled for posting. No one brought up anything about Golden Ears in this respect.
As for 80-160 hz not being important to Maggie owners, you are simply wrong. Even my Maggie 1.6Qrs go down to 40hz. That's not only reasonably deep but it is a very accurate speaker at those levels.
Harry Pearson has been talking a lot about the importance of mid-bass recently - this is something that Maggies do exceptionally well.
I know from experience as I work with a lot of bass players on recording acoustic jazz sets. I need a home playback system where I hear low bass and mid-bass very accurately so I can listen for flaws on the master recording.
Maggies are no more difficult to set up than most dynamic speakers as well so I guess disagree with John Kotches on this one. All the dynamic speakers I have had are also very susceptible to room placement and many have rear-firing tweeters which pose the same problem. The acoustic backwave is part of the design and accounted for by Jim Winey the designer, so this is no problem.
So to recap plus one, we have:
1. Room placement - average for high end speakers
2. Bass - plenty and accurate to boot.
3. Mid-bass - plenty and accurate and captures tonality of real instruments.
4. High frequencies are among the cleanest, most accurate in the business courtesy of the great Maggie ribbon tweeter.
5. Image - Tall and Wide.
6. Soundstage - Deep and Wide.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

coupled with the ability to hit reference levels without dynamic compression

John,

I have never heard dynamic compression on the Maggie models from 3.6 and higher.

 

[Tom Brennan]

John Kotches---Check out Kurt Chang's B&G planars and dipole subs with 8 (count 'em) 18" woofers for them on our Chicago Horn website. They ain't horns but they cook, yes indeed.
www.chicagohornspeakerclub.org

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Horn speakers are only for movie soundtracks.

 

[John Kotches]

Lee,
If you had read Ned's post in context you would have realized his discussion was about the MG-CC2. Rated frequency response: 160-20kHz +/- 4dB.
Regards,

 

[John Kotches]

Tom,

I've been over to Tom P's house to see his DIY B&G planars + 8 12" drivers in an infinite baffle array.

I hadn't seen Kurt's before your pointer.

I have to get by with the substantially humbler Soundline Audios since I lack DIY skills. Mine utilize the RD-50, instead of the RD-72, but I'm quite pleased with the results.

You'll have to make the ride up 355 sometime to head out to my place.

Regards,

 

[Tom Brennan]

John---Yeah, we'll get together sometime. I'm keen on the B&Gs, might sell some of my extra horn stuff (I've a basement full of it) and put together a set.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

If you had read Ned's post in context you would have realized his discussion was about the MG-CC2. Rated frequency response: 160-20kHz +/- 4dB.

Okay, but who cares? Center channel speakers don't need to go much lower. There are all sorts of fixes. In any event, just apply a bass mgmt. component and you're good to go.
I tell you what likely happened. With planar speakers, one needs surface area to create bass. There is little room for the right sized panel for a center channel-marketable speaker that fits on a TV or RPTV, etc.
By the way, most people who are Maggie lovers and like rock supplement the speakers with a good sub like REL.
Problem solved.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Lee---Yeah, you know it's funny. The first time I became aware of how good sound reproduction could be was back in 1959 when my Dad took me down to the Loop to see the roadshow version of Ben-Hur; 70mm multi-channe magnetic sound and all that. The opening blasts of the overture music through the giant Altec A-4 array behind the screen just floored me, I'd never heard anything like that, it was thrilling. I reckon I've been an Altec guy ever since.

 

[mike_decock]

Give me call next time you are in Atlanta

Thanks, Lee! I'll keep it in mind. I've listen to planars on a few occasions but never "got" it. They have an appealing tonal clarity, but I always found the imaging/soundstaging to be diffuse and distant so I've probably never heard them in the right context.

-Mike...

 

[John Kotches]

Lee,

Ignorance is bliss.

Common practice on concert DVDs is to place the bass in the center channel. Last I checked, anytime the bassist was using the D and G strings, they were in the 80-160Hz range.

You have several choices with the MG-CC2:
1) Find a receiver or processor with variable crossover, which can redirect bass from 160Hz and below to the subwoofer.

Problem, this causes localization artifacts due to the fact that the 160-80Hz octave is for the most part localizable.

2) Get a dedicated CC subwoofer.

Problem, most crossovers on powered subwoofers have a maximum limit of 120Hz or so -- meaning a small hole in smooth frequency response.

3) Get the Magnepan edition ICBM (I suggested this earlier).

Problem: You either need to put the ICBM between the DVD player and the receiver/processor and use the integrated DD/DTS decoder in the DVD player (if it even has one) or between the receiver/processor and external amplifier. This can cause phase issues after time alignment.

4) Live with the missing information.

I find that to be an unacceptable option myself. Especially when listening to High-Res multi-channel audio of either flavor.

I owned an MG-CC1 which had quite similar frequency response characteristics to the MG-CC2, and couldn't believe the difference when I switched it out for a CC with response down to 80Hz.

I have heard the MG-CC2 and it is better than its predecessor, but it still is missing a critical octave of information.

Regards,

 

[John Kotches]

Tom,

You're welcome most anytime I'm in town. Let's try to figure something out after CEDIA.

Oh, if you're free on October 20th, Mark Seaton will be demoing the Unity Horns at the Chicago Audio Society meeting.

Regards,

 

[mike_decock]

2) Get a dedicated CC subwoofer.

Heck, Get 5 subs .
-Mike...

 

[Larry B]

John:

Ignorance is bliss.

Then how come I'm not ecstatically happy?
Larry

 

[Lee Scoggins]

The first time I became aware of how good sound reproduction could be was back in 1959 when my Dad took me down to the Loop to see the roadshow version of Ben-Hur; 70mm multi-channe magnetic sound and all that. The opening blasts of the overture music through the giant Altec A-4 array behind the screen just floored me, I'd never heard anything like that, it was thrilling. I reckon I've been an Altec guy ever since.

You know Tom this explains in a good way your fondness for horns. I did not have this experience but it does seem that horns work particularly well for movies.
I am starting to hear good horns on music as well lately, but the stuff that was out in the 80s was fairly weak on music passages. This may be that I was not listening to the right combination. I think front end electronics can make a big difference. Avantgarde is here in Atlanta and I will be dropping by soon.
You know they run 70mm movies still here in Atlanta at the Fox Theater. It is the BEST way to see an epic unfold.

 

[Jeffrey Chin]

B&Gs OWNZ JOO